Ministers are also considering docking child benefit payments from parents who fail to pay truancy fines.
In further changes, Ofsted will set new targets to improve attendance at the worst schools and head teachers are being told to only authorise term-time holidays in “exceptional circumstances”.
Nick Gibb, the Schools Minister, said: “Poor attendance at school can have a hugely damaging effect on a child’s education. Children who attend school regularly are four times more likely to achieve five or more good GCSEs, including English and maths, than those who are persistently absent.
“We are determined to tackle absence before it causes long-term disadvantage.”
In all, unauthoritised absence rates are now believed to have soared by around 40 per cent for all age groups since 1997.
Charlie Taylor, the Government's chief advisor on behaviour in schools, insisted that primary head teachers had a major part to play in cracking down on the problem.
“The earlier schools address the poor attendance of a pupil, the less likely it is to become a long term issue throughout their school life,” he said. “The best primary schools identify and work with these children to improve their attendance. I’d like to see all primaries adopt this approach and instil good attendance from the start of a child’s school career.”
Figures from the Department for Education show that total absence rates– combining truancy and time off for a legitimate reason – dropped in the spring term this year compared with 2011. Nationally, 5.3 per cent of half days were lost against 5.4 per cent a year earlier.
Among secondary school pupils alone, unauthorised absences remained stable at 1.4 per cent, representing almost 39,500 children missing lessons each day.
But among five- to 11-year-olds, the truancy rate jumped from 0.6 to 0.7 per cent, meaning 23,400 pupils missed classes on the average day.
Family holidays accounted for 10.3 per cent of total absences from primary schools but just four per cent from secondaries.
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar